there have been a few times this year (ok, and maybe a few other years too) that i have questioned my life choices (and sanity). things always usually look good on paper, right? take for example signing up for three trail races of shorter(ish) distances for only $20 each and in the end you get a "bradbury bad ass" hoodie! no brainer, obviously.
until the day of the race.
now really, to be honest, these life choices i speak of are truly 100% mine. no one is forcing me to do anything against my will. the bradbury 6 mile trail race is great and not really hilly and a lot of fun... when you dont run 17 miles the day before. and the bradbury 9 mile trail run is actually really awesome and beautiful (and tough, but still really really awesome).... when you dont run 20 miles the day before. i really like running. and making bad decisions. i vow to never do this race series ever again during the heart of marathon training! which means no more fall marathons. cuz these races are the best!
my other race partner in crime, michelle, texted me while on my way to the mountain on race day morning. we discussed going for donuts instead of running, how my legs felt like lead i make terrible life choices and i should just quit running all together. but that obviously didnt happen.
we met up with jim before hitting up the outhouses before the race started, and saw at a nearby picnic area they were setting up for a birthday party! all i could think about was eating cake. and we were going to pass the picnic area twice on the run... this was my motivation. seriously. mmmmm cake.
michelle, jim, me
we lined up at the start, listened to some pre race items, and we were off! starting out was a bit rusty, but my legs somehow sucked it up and loosened up.
mile 1 11:51
yeah, totally loose. but its trails and there are rocks and roots and its not the road and i cant be fast so whatever.
mile 2 13:37
mile 3 16:41
the next two miles werent a piece of cake either (see what i did there? still no cake either. boooo). and during mile 3 was our first trip to the top of the mountain. you literally couldnt run up, it was so steep. but michelle and i had fun and obviously took some sweet selfies at the top.
hiking up the mountain
are you gonna throw up, michelle?
it was also at the top of the first climb that we joined up with catherine (kathryn? im too lazy to look up the results). she had heard me tell my friend jamie (volunteering at the top of the mountain) that i was never going to train for a marathon again (im a liar) and catherine asked what marathon i was training for. we talked about chicago for a while and her experience at the nyc marathon (they make a video of you during that race! it sounds so cool, i hope chicago does that too! its so that people dont cheat, which is so awful, but the idea of seeing you run at certain spots is really neat).
mile 4 13:03
mile 5 13:15
mile 6 14:17
we hit the summit again during mile 7, all three of us looking a little worse for wear. coming through the picnic area i stopped to say hi to rebecca and her new little baby boy holden- so tiny and cute! i just wanted to really stay with them and not head out for more of the hunger games (as we had decided to call it in the woods), and i was also secretly hoping rebecca would steal me some cake. but alas, we all grabbed a cup of water from the aid station and headed out to finish up the race. the downhills were almost just as hard as the uphills, having to brace yourself and avoid a tuck and roll maneuver. michelle gave us a bit of comic relief when she would show off her stallion like prancing over some of the roots. whatever it takes to get you through, right?
the three of us ran together for the remainder of the race, until the very end where michelle points out nicely in her blog that i took off and left them behind to tend to a girl with a hurting knee. who also blew away from them at the finish line. i was trying to pass the girl in front of me because i thought she was in my age group. apparently even on tired legs (33 mile weekend/57 mile week), i still have a little oomph.
mile 8 12:51
mile 9 10:09
post race selfies a bit better than mid race ones
we all grabbed a few cookies and other various baked goods (looooove this aspect of trail races, obviously...sad there was no watermelon left though!) and watched for jim to finish. he came through the finish line bleeding from his head- i thought he had smacked a horsefly or something, but it turns out he ran into a tree! (hes ok!) trail running is no joke, but we all definitely had a ton of fun. id say im looking forward to the next/last race of the series (and getting my "bad ass" hoodie!) but in all reality, my legs are bound to be shot and it is most likely going to be a huge sufferfest. yay.
bradbury mountain breaker
9 mile trail race
2:02:00
106 out of 155
22nd in race series out of 56 females
**id also like to give a little shout out to marianna henry... she is the sister of a good friend i work with and apparently she was too
Nice job D! It was great to see you! The cake was delicious (yummmmm) I tried to steal you a piece but the little 3 year olds were quicker than me and it was all gone (little jackals)
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to give this series a go next year!!
Wow good job! Trail running is no joke!
ReplyDelete